Chinese President Xi Jinping has followed up the closure of the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with a major revamp of the military leadership.
On 25 October, a new lineup of the apex Central Military Commission (CMC) was announced. A day later, Xi urged military leaders to transform the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into one of the leading fighting forces by 2050. He said the Chinese military must be fully modernised by 2035.
Xi has appointed PLA Air Force General Xu Qiliang as the first vice-chairman of the CMC. General Zhang Youxia would now become the second vice-chairman.The other four CMC members are: General Wei Fenghe, General Li Zuocheng, Admiral Miao Hua and Lieutenant General Zhang Shengmin.Xi has already brought in major structural changes in the military focused of joint tri-service combat, undertaken by five newly formed theater commands.
On the one hand China is working on a continuous modernisation of its PLA on the other the Indian Army’s modernisation plans are still dwindling. The casualties suffered by the army in Jammu and Kashmir this year is almost equal to the total combined number of soldiers killed in the last two years. This year – one of the most violent in recent times — 63 soldiers were killed in Jammu and Kashmir. The figure was 39 soldiers in 2015 and 26 in 2014 due to deficiencies of small arms and ammunition for infantry.
The main reasons for the heavy casualties of the army in Jammu and Kashmir are huge delays in induction of “small arms” for infantry battalions figured in the Army commanders’ conference recently.
Indian army’s foot soldiers are still nowhere close to getting basic modern infantry weapons, ranging from assault rifles and sniper guns to light machine guns and close-quarter battle carbines, after a decade of acquisition projects from abroad being repeatedly scrapped as well as failure of indigenous options to pass muster till now.
The huge delays in the induction of “small arms” for infantry battalions figured in the Army commanders’, with Chief of the Army Staff General Bipin Rawat telling his senior Lt-Generals that “our approach to procurement process needs to be balanced with focus at the right places”.
Though plans are now on track to plug major operational gaps in artillery guns, air defence missiles and helicopters, “small arms” remain a big worry. As per overall plans, the 12-lakh strong Army needs 8,18,500 new-generation assault rifles, 4,18,300 close quarter battle (CQB) carbines, 43,700 light machine guns and 5,679 sniper rifles. All these figures also include some weapons for the much-smaller IAF and Navy.
But all these induction plans, which are supposed to include direct purchase of an initial number of weapons from a foreign vendor followed by large-scale indigenous production with technology transfer, have failed to materialise so far.
In September 2016, for instance, the Army was forced to re-launch its global hunt for new-generation 7.62 x 51mm assault rifles to replace the old glitch-prone 5.56mm Indian small arms system (INSAS) rifles after similar bids over the last decade were scrapped due to corruption scandals, unrealistic technical requirements and change in calibre of the desired guns.
Sources say the technical parameters or general staff qualitative requirements (GSQRs) for the new assault rifles, with an effective range of 500-metre, have now been finalised. “The case will now be moved for the defence ministry’s approval under the `Buy & Make (Indian)’ model before the formal tender or request for proposal (RFP) is floated,” said a source.
Simultaneously, the Army is testing prototypes of a 7.62mm x 51mm rifle developed by Rifle Factory Ishapore after it held the 5.56mm Excalibur rifle did not meet its requirements of a “higher kill probability”.
Similarly, the procurement case for 5.56 x 45mm CQB carbines, with an effective 200-metre range, was re-launched recently after the earlier one was scrapped last year. The defence ministry had junked the earlier case, dating back to 2006, on the ground that it had become “a resultant single vendor situation” with only the carbine from the Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) being selected after confirmatory trials.
The story of the 7.62 x 51mm caliber light machine guns is similar, with the Army back to square one after a long-winded procurement process. The defence ministry in August “retracted” the tender or RFP because only IWI was left in the fray after protracted field trials from December 2015 to February 2017.
The case for sniper rifles is relatively new and smaller. The Army is keen to induct 5,679 new 8.6mm sniper rifles, with an effective kill range of 1,200-metre, from abroad to replace its old 7.62mm Dragunov sniper rifles (800-metre range) acquired from Russia in 1990. The Dragunov rifles are not equipped with modern magnification and sight systems as well as bipod stands, while their ammunition is also quite expensive.
Amid all this, the Army is keeping its fingers crossed that the infantry, or the “queen of the battle”, also gets its due in the never-ending race to induct big-ticket weapon systems ranging from tanks and howitzers to fighters and submarines.
The infantry battalions need over 30,000 third generation night vision devices, new assault rifles – a soldier’s basic weapon, carbines for close quarter battle, general purpose machine guns, light-weight anti-materiel rifles, mine protected vehicles, 390,000 ballistic helmets, and 180,000 lightweight bullet proof jackets.
The government has recently sanctioned some funds and delegated financial powers to the three services to acquire the wherewithal necessary for combat readiness.
The army has a ‘Long Term Perspective Plan’ ending 2027, which calls for the procurement of various types of arms, ammunition and other equipment. This plan will not be affected by any conflict.
However, the scenario changes in the short-term. The army has had to dip into its War Wastage Reserves to meet the requirements of raising the Mountain Strike Corps. So the reserves have fallen. This is not seen as alarming if a war goes on for one or two months. Our factories can easily ramp up production and PSUs are geared up to double or even treble shifts. There are some items that would have to be imported at short notice. This is not seen as a hurdle because of past agreements and understandings that India has with traditional suppliers.
A two-front situation (Pakistan and China) could complicate India’s problems. Therefore the infantry units’ deficiencies have to be completed at a fast speed in a time bound manner so that it can plug the gaps of infiltration from across the borders in a fool proof manner and also avoid casualties to our soldiers. The adhocism set in the present system has to be avoided by adopting proper procurement procedures laid down in the rules. The bureaucratic hurdles need to be overcome with the new and dynamic defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the chair.
There is an urgent need for the appointment of Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) and appointment of service officers in the Ministry of Defence as recommended by Naresh Chandra Committee in 2011 for bringing in efficiency in the armed forces and better coordination. The example of China may help the country for better governance, modernisation of armed forces and execution.
Please wait...
Very good article. Indian government need to improve the situation. But armed forces also need to adopt indigenous platforms. Every weapon need some time to mature. A ccq is developed by DRDO and ofb named MSMC or JVPC. It’s a good gun very moduler handy and light weight. Army needs to utilise their design bureau like Navy and worked as a team with drdo and of. Sometime ago ofb had designed a 7.62*51 mm battle rifle, which army rejected later, in that areas army needs to use their design bureau to improve the design and quality of the weapon.
Our most big two neighbours have enmity with us, so in future wars we can only win by indigenous weapons. We have a vast private industrial workforce, our last governments weren’t farsighted and not using that But current government has some willingness to include the private sector in defense. Government need to merge the private sector in every program like atags and naval platforms. We have such a big strong army but with lots of gaps and we can only fill those gaps with indigenous solutions like Western countries.